The treasurer of Boerengroep will start her thesis in a couple of months, and therefore we start our search for a new treasurer, so that he/she can learn everything in time. The function is only a couple of hours per week and you can gain a lot of experience and knowledge about the financial side of an organization like Boerengroep! It would be nice to have someone who speaks Dutch, so therefore the vacancy here below is also in Dutch. If you’re interested, don’t hesitate to email st.boerengroep@wur.nl , and if you know someone who might be interested, spread the word!

The academic year is just about the start. Are you still looking for an interesting internship to do this year? We have a grand opportunity for you! In collaboration with the university college in Ghent, Belgium, you can join a project that involves making agroforestry designs for estate gardens in Flanders.

On Thursday 20 of June, the Circular Farming Platform had its second episode of the series “Together towards circular farming”, with as guest speaker small-scale dairy farmer Roel van Buuren, from the farm Landlust. Roel told us about his diversified farm and his perspective on the problems of our current food system, and his own vision of circular farming and what it should be, and the future of farming.

Roel runs a dairy farm in Maasland (near Rotterdam), with 50 Jersey cows, 150 chickens and 58 432 234 worms in the soil. He has a low-input system (using no synthetic fertilizer), relying almost entirely on his diversified pastures (grass, clover, dandelion and plantain among others) to feed his cows, thanks to a high level of understanding of grass growth management. His horned cows do rotational grazing, and as their manure fall on the grass, the chickens nearby with their mobile coop eat the fly larvae and scatter the manure around. He also cares for biodiversity: Roel has a solar-fed pump that brings water from the ditch on the field, to provide a suitable habitat for meadow birds.

The audience was invited to interact by giving their opinion on a series of strong statements via the app Mentis.com. Statements such as: “Dutch agriculture has to continue increasing production to feed the world”, “To go circular we need to focus on high tech solutions” and “Consumers have to pay more for food because of ecosystem services provided by the farmer” were presented to them. The statements sparked a lively debate, during which Roel van Buuren also gave his opinion.

This event closed off the platform’s activities for this academic year. In October, the platform will hold an annualforum about assessing the work in progress in the Netherlands towards circular farming (many speakers to be announced!).

PS: The Circular Farming Platform is pleased to count a new organization as participant of the platform! Agriforum Wageningen, founded by a group of students-farmers from Biosystems Engineering and Plant Sciences studies, are looking to bring more awareness to the students about the current Dutch agriculture.

We are now looking for a new coordinator of the Inspringtheater (IT)! As a part of Boerengroep, the IT connects students to real-life challenges of rural life and rural people (and more). The vacancy for coordinator is for Dutch-speaking only. If you feel enthusiastic about bringing new perspectives to people and opening up discussions by using interactive theater, don’t hesitate to apply for the role of coordinator for the Inspringtheater! (or become part of the group ; ))

Last month, the Circular Farming Platform organised the event ‘Together towards circular farming: collectively transforming the agricultural science paradigm’. WUR student/farmer Anouk van Bakel, from the family farm Vrebamelkvee B.V. talked about the measures that Vrebamelkvee is taking to become more sustainable. She also addressed the challenges that the farm encounters to shift from linear to circular farming.

The FEI 2019 is a full time course and will take place from 22nd July – 16th August

PART I: lectures, workshops and excursions

PART II: Internship at a farm or garden (somewhere in NL)

PART III: Reflection / linking theory and practice

Costs: €100,-This fee includes organic lunch, snacks, drinks, workshops, excursions and lectures during the preparatory and evaluation phase (week 1 + week 4). Your stay at the farm is for free, but it would be appreciated if you give a present and/or financial compensation to the farmer.

More information will become available soon. After the deadline, your registration will be confirmed and you’ll hear if you are accepted. Participants will then also be informed with more information regarding the FEI.

More or less 40 000 climate demonstrators joined in Amsterdam on the 10th of March to protest the weak climate policy. They consisted mostly of that part of the population that is inexperienced with demonstrations, or for whom it has been a while since their last protest. But all of them worry about climate change in such a way that they are prepared to march through Amsterdam in harsh weather conditions, with lots of rain and lots of wind. The Dutch middle class was certainly present, but there were also, for example, many students who came in buses from Wageningen University amongst other places. And a very small group, among whom yours truly, who left Wageningen on a bike, seeking adventure on the way to Amsterdam.

After months of planning, Reclaim the Seeds, Wageningen Edition, took place on the 30th of March. It was a bright, sunny day, putting everyone in a summer mood, and making it a perfect day to celebrate agro-biodiversity, sustainable food production and to reclaim our right to freely swap and share unpatented, GMO-free seeds! The main location of the event was the Hoge Born farm, but there were also many food forest-related workshops that took place at the Droevendaal Farm.

A couple of hundreds of people showed up to stroll through the elaborate seed market and to take part in the workshop program.

Summary – excursion to Akkervarkens farm

Summary – excursion to Akkervarkensarm

On 26th January, Boerengroep organized an excursion to the farm Akkervarkens (Field pigs in English) in Walthermond in Drenthe region, for a group of 11 people. The goal was to visit a pig farm with an innovative, more animal- and environmental-friendly way of raising pigs.

Akkervarkens
farm is, to say the least, special. Willem and Claudia, the farmers, wanted
their pigs to be raised in their natural habitats, so that they could perform
their natural behavior. They have 250 pigs that live outside all year round. They
live in and feed on neighboring forest areas, and on other farmers’ arable fields
where they dig out weeds or the remains of a harvest (like potatoes). This way,
new open spaces are created in forests and the fields are cleaned without
machines, which leaves more space to soil life. Every day, pigs get additional
feed that is locally sourced (such as cereals and beets), to ensure that they
remain healthy and so they keep coming to the farmers.

The
entire life cycle of the pigs is managed by the farmers, from birth to
slaughter. The sows give birth in the farrowing pen on-farm, where they have
space to make their own nest made of straw. Some extra space close to the walls
is made especially for piglets, to prevent them from being crushed by their
mother. Piglets stay with their mother for 8 to 10 weeks (instead of 4 weeks in
conventional farms), before they are placed together by age so they learn to
get used to life outside and within a group.

The
farm raises 3 different breeds (Berkshire, Duroc and Husumer) that are known
for being robust and curious, perfect for living outside. Husumer is especially
a rare breed that the farmers want to save from extinction. Pigs are raised
until more or less 1.5 years old (instead of 6-7 months in conventional farms).
The farmers bring the animals to the slaughterhouse themselves to ensure
minimum stress. The meat is sold on-farm. It has extra tenderness and juiciness
thanks to the special breeds. The meat is not organic but it is free of
antibiotics and of conservatives.

Akkervarkens
farm is multifunctional and locally rooted. The pigs are used as landscape
managers, as they clean fields and forests. Also, because the pigs dig weeds
with their roots, the farm works hand-in-hand with the municipality to control
invasive exotics, such as the Japanese Knotweed (Japanse duizendknoop in
Nederlands). Farmers offer farm visits all year round, and people can pass by
freely to say hi to the pigs, some of them give the pigs their leftovers. The
farmers also organize activities for children: they have an indoor playground
for children parties (including farm animals) and they organize each year an
acorn collection campaign: together with local residents and sport clubs they
go and pick up (up to 6000kg) acorns, as treats for the pigs.

Getting
a 2-hour tour at the Akkervarkens farm is quite an experience. It is especially
delightful to help the farmer go feed the pigs, and to see hundreds of them
happily running to us from a distance in the field. It is inspiring to get to
know about an economically successful farm that raises pigs according to their
natural behavior, allowing them to live outside under the trees, dig out their
food and to chill in the mud.

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